Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in a 1968 speech where hereflects upon the Civil Rights Movement, states, "In the end, we willremember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."
小馬丁·路德·金博士， 在1968年的一次 回顧民權運動的演講中 說到：」最終， 我們會記住的不是敵人的話語， 而是朋友的沉默。"
As a teacher, I've internalized this message. Every day,all around us, we see the consequences of silence manifest themselves in theform of discrimination, violence, genocide and war. In the classroom, Ichallenge my students to explore the silences in their own lives throughpoetry. We work together to fill those spaces, to recognize them, to name them,to understand that they don't have to be sources of shame. In an effort tocreate a culture within my classroom where students feel safe sharing theintimacies of their own silences, I have four core principles posted on theboard that sits in the front of my class, which every student signs at thebeginning of the year: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, tellyour truth.
作為一名教師， 我在心中早已接納並消化了這種信息。每一天，在我們周圍， 我們都會看到沉默產生的後果， 以歧視，暴力，屠殺 和戰爭的形式展現在我們面前。在課堂裡，我給學生們出了道難題， 讓他們通過詩歌來探索 自己生活中的沉默。我們一起填補空白之處， 去欣賞它們，給它們起名字， 並試著明白 他們並不是羞恥的來源。為了在我的課堂上 創造一種文化氛圍， 讓學生們可以無所顧忌的分享 他們從前從未提及的事， 我在教室前面的黑板上 寫下了四個核心原則， 年初的時候每名學生都籤了名：批判性的閱讀，有意識的寫作， 清晰的說話，說實話。And I find myself thinking a lot about that last point,tell your truth. And I realized that if I was going to ask my students to speakup, I was going to have to tell my truth and be honest with them about thetimes where I failed to do so.
在最後一條上， 我不由地思考了很多， 說出實話。我意識到 如果想讓學生們暢所欲言， 我就得實話實說， 坦誠地告訴他們我曾經 還無法做到這一點。
So I tell them that growing up, as a kid in a Catholicfamily in New Orleans, during Lent I was always taught that the most meaningfulthing one could do was to give something up, sacrifice something you typicallyindulge in to prove to God you understand his sanctity. I've given up soda,McDonald's, French fries, French kisses, and everything in between. But oneyear, I gave up speaking. I figured the most valuable thing I could sacrificewas my own voice, but it was like I hadn't realized that I had given that up along time ago. I spent so much of my life telling people the things they wantedto hear instead of the things they needed to, told myself I wasn't meant to beanyone's conscience because I still had to figure out being my own, sosometimes I just wouldn't say anything, appeasing ignorance with my silence,unaware that validation doesn't need words to endorse its existence. WhenChristian was beat up for being gay, I put my hands in my pocket and walkedwith my head down as if I didn't even notice. I couldn't use my locker forweeks because the bolt on the lock reminded me of the one I had put on my lipswhen the homeless man on the corner looked at me with eyes up merely searchingfor an affirmation that he was worth seeing. I was more concerned with touchingthe screen on my Apple than actually feeding him one. When the woman at thefundraising gala said "I'm so proud of you. It must be so hard teachingthose poor, unintelligent kids," I bit my lip, because apparently weneeded her money more than my studentsneeded their dignity.
所以我告訴他們我在紐奧良 一個天主教家庭長大， 在四旬齋期間， （譯註：基督教在復活節前為期40天的一個節期） 大人們告訴我能做的最有意義的事 就是放棄一些事情， 犧牲你曾經所沉迷的事物， 向上帝證明你感悟到了他的聖潔。我放棄了汽水，麥當勞，薯條， 法式親吻還有這其中的各種東西。不過有一年，我放棄了說話。我發現我能夠犧牲的最有價值的東西 就是我的聲音，但我還沒有意識到 我已經放棄說話有很長一段時間了。我花了太多時間 告訴人們他們想要聽到的東西， 而不是他們需要聽到的那些， 我也告訴自己 我不想成為任何人的道德標杆， 因為我仍然需要學著以身作則， 所以有時候我一言不發，用沉默來安撫無知， 卻並未意識到 其實合理性並不需要言辭 來證明其存在。當一名基督徒因其為同性戀 而遭到毆打時， 我卻把雙手放在口袋裡， 低著頭走過去， 裝作什麼都沒看到。我有幾個星期沒法用我的柜子， 因為鎖頭上的安全栓 讓我想起了之前 被我放在嘴唇上的那一枚， 那時有個角落裡的流浪漢 正抬起頭看著我， 僅僅想要尋找 他值得人們注意的證據。相比起給他食物， 我更關心手機上有什麼好玩的。當募捐晚會上的女士 說到「我真為你感到自豪。給那些貧窮的，智商低下的孩子上課一定很難。」 我依舊沒有開口，因為很明顯， 相比學生們的尊嚴， 我們更需要她的錢。
We spend so much time listening to the things people aresaying that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't. Silence is theresidue of fear. It is feeling your flaws gut-wrench guillotine your tongue. Itis the air retreating from your chest because it doesn't feel safe in yourlungs. Silence is Rwandan genocide. Silence is Katrina. It is what you hearwhen there aren't enough body bags left. It is the sound after the noose isalready tied. It is charring. It is chains. It is privilege. It is pain. Thereis no time to pick your battles when your battles have already picked you.
我們花費了太多時間 傾聽人們正在說的事， 卻不會注意到他們沒說的那些。沉默是恐懼的殘留物。讓你無比痛苦的 意識到自己的缺點卻無言以對。讓你感到胸口憋悶 無法呼吸。沉默是盧安達大屠殺。沉默是卡特裡娜颶風。是當你聽到沒有足夠的裹屍袋。是當繩索被套緊時的聲音。是碳化，是鎖鏈，是特權，是傷痛。已經沒有時間決定是否要奮起反抗， 此時衝突已來到了你的面前。
I will not let silence wrap itself around my indecision.I will tell Christian that he is a lion, a sanctuary of bravery and brilliance.I will ask that homeless man what his name is and how his day was, becausesometimes all people want to be is human. I will tell that woman that mystudents can talk about transcendentalism like their last name was Thoreau, andjust because you watched one episode of "The Wire" doesn't mean youknow anything about my kids. So this year, instead of giving something up, Iwill live every day as if there were a microphone tucked under my tongue, astage on the underside of my inhibition. Because who has to have a soapbox whenall you've ever needed is your voice?
Thank you.
我不會允許沉默讓我變得優柔寡斷。我會告訴基督徒，他是一頭獅子， 是勇氣和智慧的庇護所。我會詢問流浪漢的名字， 他過得怎麼樣，因為有時候大家只想做個真正的人。我會告訴那位女士 我的學生們會談論先驗論， 仿佛他們有著梭羅（Thoreau）家族血統，僅僅因為你看過了一集《火線》 （譯註：美劇，又譯為《線人》、《監聽風雲》）， 並不意味著你很了解我的孩子們。那麼今年， 我並沒有放棄什麼東西， 而是把每天都過得好像有個麥克風被植入進了我的嘴裡， 而家裡的地面就是講臺。當你只需要大聲的表達你的觀點時， 誰還會需要一個肥皂箱呢？（譯註：美國人常站在肥皂箱上進行街頭演講）
謝謝大家。